I started working for a Theatre this year. Not in a practitioner space, I hasten to add, but you know I love theatre and being around people who are more talented and interesting than me.
It got me to thinking about performance and character. How we have the ability, with the aid of costume and acting, to transform into another person, and live their experience for a short time; or at least, what we perceive their experience would be. Through fiction, the audience takes that journey with the artist, and if we empathise with the character, we’re able to experience the perspective of this other person. I strongly believe that the art of storytelling has the potential to make us more compassionate and powerful humans. But what’s the effect of fiction on the artist creating it, particularly when the art is derived through physical imitation and performance? Because every artist brings themselves to their work; and the best art is created when the artist is truthful in what they expose of themselves and their experience through that character.
